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Both the Chwa Building and Muteesa I Dormitory at Mengo Primary School in Kampala have cracked walls, crumbling plaster and rough cast, very old timber, doors and paint, and damaged verandas as a result of rainwater.
While taking Daily Monitor around the Muteesa I Dormitory, Mengo Primary School headteacher Festus Kirumira says the school has endevoured to maintain the dormitory’s veranda so that it is not damaged by rainwater. The lower end of the dormitory has been reinforced with hardcore stones in order to protect the walls from falling off as well.

“The gutters are rusting; the original timber and doors are old and need to be replaced, which is going to be our next project,” Kirumira says.
On the other hand the original timber and iron sheets on the Chwa Building are still strong. However, soft ceiling boards need replacing and veranda repaired.
Kirumira says because the sun-dried bricks were joined by mud in the construction of both buildings, termites find it easy to destroy the timber and soft boards on the walls. “We fumigate to control the termites.”

“Our biggest challenge is lack of funds to maintain these historic buildings. The situation is even made worse because we are a Universal Primary Education-funded school where funds are very minimal. The best we can do is to start by painting. We need to work on the verandas and general maintenance so that the buildings can last ages,” Kirumira adds.
“We should appreciate such buildings, technology and architecture of the people who lived before us. They serve as memory. We should thank Kabaka Chwa for his initiative to promote education in Buganda Kingdom,” he says.

Heritage
Christian missionaries established Kayanja Elementary School (later Mengo Primary School) in 1895. The Chwa Building was the first formal education building in Uganda, financed by the Buganda Kingdom and British donations. The muvule tree (Chlorophora exceisa) Kabaka Chwa planted on its inauguration still stands at the yard. This was followed by the Muteesa I Dormitory, both buildings having thick walls made of mud and grass bricks.

Chwa houses a small boy’s dormitory, the main school library and four classrooms. While the Muteesa I Dormitory houses big boys only. The mixed school that sits on about 7-acres currently has 971 pupils and 22 teachers.
These Mengo Primary School buildings are among the 51 buildings and sites in Kampala that were constructed before 1969 reflecting Uganda’s socio-cultural, religious, political and economic history.

The sites have been identified by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) in partnership with Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), Buganda Heritage and Tourism Board, Uganda National Museum and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) as an important step towards the preservation and promotion of these assets.
Kampala is fast expanding and becoming a modern city, but it is also losing its historical and cultural identity, especially as historical buildings and sites get modified or even demolished.
Heritage preservation efforts in Uganda and the world over are, however, confronted with a number of challenges, the deputy commissioner for tourism development in the Ministry of Tourism, Rosemary Kobutagi, notes.

“In Uganda particularly, rapid population growth causes intense demand for space and resources for development. This, coupled with a lack of sufficient awareness of the significance of cultural and historical assets, places buildings and monuments at risk of being modified or demolished. In addition the limited investment in our heritage assets reduces their viability as tourism products, especially in a context where development is to a large extent equated to economic growth,” Kobutagi adds.

Challenges
According to Dr Fredrick Omolo Okalebo, a lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Physical Planning, Makerere University, the significant historic buildings are at risk because their owners or managers are unaware of their importance.

In his paper titled “Preserving Historical Buildings in Uganda,” Dr Okalebo, observes: many have been neglected and abandoned; some are being threatened or eyed for destruction (like the Uganda National Museum in Kampala); some have been altered (like State House in Entebbe); some destroyed (like the Kasubi Royal Tombs of the Buganda Kings, which are under reconstruction); many have been destroyed (like Fort Lugard Historical Museum and the Nakawa African Housing Estate in Kampala); and a few are preserved or under conservation (like Parliament Building and Makerere Main Building).
“The levels of preservation and conservation also leave a lot to be desired,” Dr Okalebo notes in the paper that he presented at the launch of the map titled “Kampala’s Historical Buildings and Sites – Our Valuable but Vanishing Heritage” in Kampala in November last year.

Dr Okalebo lists a number of challenges in the preservation of historical buildings in Uganda: there is limited national budget allocation to the sector (Kenya allocates about 2 per cent of its budget; Uganda 0.1 per cent); Uganda’s heritage legislation has been overrun by events and calling for its revision; limited expert or specialist conservation personnel; weak institutions; attitudes to and from government; and defragmentation of custodianship (ministry of Gender oversees the National Theatre and Nomo Gallery; others are under the department of antiquities and museums in ministry of tourism, trade and industry.

According to Dr Okalebo, a town or city in which old buildings stand alongside new buildings is, of course, a veritable, outdoor museum of history, as by studying the oldest to the most recent buildings, one gets an idea of what sort of people have resided there over the years, how prosperous the residents have been, what sort of technology and materials have been available to them.

“Unlike other objects of everyday life which when no longer suitable for their original use can either be discarded or stored, buildings can often outlive their original use. If the integrity of the architecture of the building is not diminished, and its character and setting safeguarded, then with the skills of a conservation architect new uses can often be accommodated satisfactorily,” Dr Okalebo says.
Most buildings are privately owned, meaning the onus of keeping the building in good shape or repair rests with the owner, Dr Okalebo observes.

“In instances where the owner is not able to or declines to attend to repairs, with the consequence that the building is at risk of being derelict or lost forever – such buildings should be bought by government,” he suggests.

Strategy
The map that was launched on November 19, 2015 at City Hall in Kampala by the cultural enthusiast and chairperson of UTB, James Tumusiime, includes a photo documentation of these buildings and also highlights their architectural merit, aesthetic quality, and unique design.
Through this initiative, it is anticipated that buildings and sites of cultural and historical significance in Kampala will be better known and preserved by policy makers, owners of these properties and the general public.

It is hoped that Uganda will be able to offer an enhanced tourism experience, for local and international tourists, who will discover the history of religions, cultures, education, health and political systems in Uganda.

“They (historical buildings) are the history of us as Ugandans, they are the culture, they tell the story, they tell where we have been, they tell where we came from. But there is no real effort to preserve these things, and by and by, people are forgetting them…,” KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi observes.
Unfortunately, Musisi adds, our laws are not very strong. “In other jurisdictions, you can change the inside however much you want, but you cannot touch the exterior. So you have all these buildings which are like facades: very old, very historical, very well preserved, but the inside is very convenient and has been modelled to suit the needs of the current generations,” she says.

Musisi believes we need to strengthen our laws as long as all of us have acknowledged; we need to increase awareness and we need to put more efforts in this so that when one walks into a building or down a street one will be able to identify parts of our history as one goes along.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Ireland’s Ambassador to Uganda Donal Cronin argued that historical buildings in Kampala are not second rate examples stick in some backwater town – the buildings here are superbly fine, built by Ugandan men and women and often designed by the best architects working on the continent at that time.

Call to authorities
Cronin said Dublin (in Ireland) learned a number of bitter lessons. “First, the city authorities and the government have a duty and responsibility to enforce the protection of historic buildings. Without this, the free market will be less likely to preserve, with profit and modernisation the main motives,” he said.

“However, there is also a need to get the private sector, landlords, developers on board. Not just the stick, but also the carrot. So incentives for preservation are also needed, small grants, awards…, publicity – these are also very useful in promoting a culture of preservation. A preservation that we can all benefit from, the city, the private sector, the residents, visitors – a true win-win situation.”
Cronin would love to see KCCA address two things: retention of the leafy realm and support for maintain the upkeep on the fine historic buildings in the Central Business District.

“The leafy realm refers both to the tree-lined streets once so characteristic of many African cities of which many, but not all, are so casually removing the trees, often by the way for small issues like inserting a cable or a small widening of the road,” Cronin added. UTB recognises historical buildings and sites as important aspects of Uganda’s heritage, history and identity and as potential sources of cultural tourism.
Musisi revealed that KCCA has started a guided tour of Kampala and identified historical building where the buses will stop.
In addition to the existing monuments and statues, KCCA plans to construct others in the capital.

On behalf of her ministry, Kobutagi pledged to support the promotion of cultural tourism by ensuring that Uganda has a conducive policy framework to identify and protect historical and cultural buildings. Through the Department of Museums and Monuments, provision shall be made to develop these national assets into viable tourism products that will be used to promote respect for Uganda’s cultural diversity and history.

According to Kobutagi, the government has demonstrated its will to preserve and promote historical sites and buildings by updating legislation, such as the Museums and Monuments Policy 2015 and the draft Uganda Heritage Bill 2015 that seek to address contemporary preservation concerns, cognisant of heritage and its contribution to sustainable development, peace, mutual respect and understanding among peoples.

“Heritage preservation requires the concerted efforts of diverse actors to pool expertise and resources from custodians of cultural heritage; historians and owners of historical properties; responsible government agencies; tour agents and development partners, alike…,” Kobutagi says. “…Indeed our historical buildings are evidence of the intellectual, social, economic and political efforts of previous leaders and generations and this must be recognized and preserved,” she adds.

CCFU in partnership with relevant stakeholders plans to advocate for the establishment of legal instruments to identify, list and protect historical properties and to encourage cultural activities and creative artists to use their skills to promote historical buildings.
CCFU will publicly recognise individuals and institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to the preservation of built heritage in Kampala and Uganda in the near future.